Synopses & Reviews
Fifty years ago, friendly rivalry between musicians turned 1965 into the most ground-breaking year in music history ever. It was the year rock and roll evolved into the premier art form of its time and accelerated the drive for personal freedom throughout the Western world.
The feedback loop between the artists and their times ignited an unprecedented explosion of creativity. The Beatles made their first artistic statement with Rubber Soul and performed at Shea Stadium, the first rock concert to be held in a major American stadium. Bob Dylan released “Like a Rolling Stone”—the quintessential anthem of the year—and went electric at the Newport Folk Festival. The Rolling Stones' hit song "Satisfaction" catapulted the band to world-wide success. Fashion designer Mary Qaunt raised the hemlines of her skirts to above the knee, introducing the iconic miniskirt.
This was not only the year of rock as new genres such as funk and psychedelia were born. Soul music became a prime force of desegregation as Motown crossed out of the R&B charts on to the top of the Billboard Top 100. Country music reached new heights with Nashville and the Bakersfield sound and competition between musicians coincided with seismic cultural shifts wrought by the Civil Rights Movement, psychedelics, and Vietnam.
In 1965, Andrew Grant Jackson combines fascinating and often surprising personal stories with a panoramic historical narrative.
Review
“From the Beatles to the Byrds, from Dylan to the Stones, from the Beach Boys to Motown, author Andrew G. Jackson brilliantly details how the year 1965 was essentially rock and rolls coming-out party. 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music is filled with interesting insight and analysis into how a unique confluence of cultural events helped spur many of popular musics all-time greats to reach their artistic apex, all within one, short, action-packed twelve-month period. If you werent there the first time around — or even if you were — sit back and prepare yourself for one heck of a ‘ticket to ride.”—Kent Hartman, author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Rolls Best-Kept Secret, winner of the Oregon Book Award and the Audie Award
“1965 is a year that pop fans... revere [for] the sheer volume of innovative music and cultural transformation. A half-century on, it all remains astonishing but Jackson takes us through these 365 earth-changing days with steady hands and an addictive style. I started making a playlist almost immediately.”—Marc Spitz, author of We Got the Neutron Bomb and Twee
“The Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Coltrane, The Dead, Velvet Underground, Motown … what wasnt happening in 1965? Andrew Grant Jackson painstakingly chronicles this pivotal year in music with an eye for detail and the big picture - an exciting ride with a timeless soundtrack.”—Joel Selvin, author of Summer of Love
Praise for Andrew Jackson's Still the Greatest:
“This creative, enlightening, and informative work by a welcomed entrant to Beatles scholarship is highly recommended to anyone interested in learning more about the Fab Fours sporadically great post-breakup recordings.”—Library Journal
“Loads of fun for Beatles fans.”—Booklist
“The fellow is pretty smart and the book is wonderfully well researched … With the Beatles having been covered to death, this is really new territory … both quite fun and impressive.”— Eric Alterman, The Nation
“An excellent volume and definitely a worthwhile read for music scholars, music enthusiasts, or fans of The Beatles.”—American Reference Books Annual
Synopsis
During twelve unforgettable months in the middle of the turbulent Sixties, America saw the rise of innovative new sounds that would change popular music as we knew it. In 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music, music historian Andrew Grant Jackson (Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of The Beatles' Solo Careers) chronicles a ground-breaking year of creativity fueled by rivalries between musicians and continents, sweeping social changes, and technological breakthroughs.
While the Beatles played Shea Stadium and made their first major artistic statement with Rubber Soul, the Rolling Stones topped the American charts for the first time with the sexually aggressive "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," and the Who staked out their territory with the classic "My Generation." Bob Dylan released his six-minute opus "Like a Rolling Stone" from Highway 61 Revisited and sent shock waves through the music community when he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival. Barry Maguire sang of the "Eve of Destruction" and Simon and Garfunkel released their first number-one hit with "The Sounds of Silence."
Never before had popular music been so diverse. Soul and funk became prime forces of desegregation as James Brown scored his first Top Ten songs, the Temptations topped the charts with "My Girl," and Otis Redding released the classic LP Otis Blue with his composition "Respect." Meanwhile, The Righteous Brothers' version of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" became the longest song to hit number one. Country music reached new heights with the Nashville and Bakersfield sounds. John Coltrane released his jazz masterpiece A Love Supreme. Bob Marley released his first album with the Wailers. And in Northern California, the Grateful Dead gave their first performances at Ken Kesey's "Acid Test" parties.
Jackson weaves fascinating and often surprising stories into a panoramic narrative of the seismic cultural shifts wrought by the Civil Rights Movement, feminism, Youthquake, the miniskirt, the Pill, psychedelics, and Vietnam. 1965 is a fascinating account of a defining year that produced some of the greatest songs, albums, and artists of all time.
Synopsis
A lively chronicle of the year that shaped popular music forever
Fifty years ago, friendly rivalry between musicians turned 1965 into the year rock evolved into the premier art form of its time and accelerated the drive for personal freedom throughout the Western world.
The Beatles made their first artistic statement with Rubber Soul. Bob Dylan released Like a Rolling Stone, arguably the greatest song of all time, and went electric at the Newport Folk Festival. The Rolling Stones's Satisfaction catapulted the band to world-wide success. New genres such as funk, psychedelia, folk rock, proto-punk, and baroque pop were born. Soul music became a prime force of desegregation as Motown crossed over from the R&B charts to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Country music reached new heights with Nashville and the Bakersfield sound. Musicians raced to innovate sonically and lyrically against the backdrop of seismic cultural shifts wrought by the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, psychedelics, the Pill, long hair for men, and designer Mary Quant's introduction of the miniskirt.
In 1965, Andrew Grant Jackson combines fascinating and often surprising personal stories with a panoramic historical narrative.
About the Author
ANDREW GRANT JACKSON is the author of Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of the Beatles Solo Careers and Wheres Ringo? He has written for Rolling Stone, Yahoo!, Slates “Blogging the Beatles,” Baseline Studio System, music magazines Burn Lounge, Mean Street, and Dispatch, and copyedited the Hollywood monthly magazine Ingenue. He directed and cowrote the feature film The Discontents starring Perry King and Amy Madigan and served as actor Jeff Bridgess development associate at AsIs Productions. He lives in Los Angeles.